DAY AFTER TRIAL AND ON THE ROAD AGAIN

Kelly treated a bunch of us to dinner last night.  We went to a steakhouse and I had a crab and lobster chowder and a margarita.  Both were good.   Great warm bread too.  Good conversation and fun.  I enjoyed myself.  That was Kelly Martin from Finley Vue farm.  Very nice trial location and other breed friendly.

This morning I was up at 5:30. I think the puppy peed in his crate because I was ignoring him.  Note to self: Pay attention when the pup is crying.   I was not really up at that time just awake.  We went out around 8 I would guess and I worked Dually and Dare on the whole flock on driving and they both did awesome work.  I got good distance on both of them and nice control on their parts.  They Kelly came out and worked a nice collie of his. She had a lot of interest and drive.   We sorted out some call ducks to work the pup on too.  But first we took all of my dogs and some of his out to run around the ½ acre pond. They ran around and around and went in the pond when they got hot or tired. The pup ran around once but when he couldn’t catch the big dogs he stayed by us and tried to catch them as they ran by us.  Dare and Dually and Kelly’s 2 BC’s swam out and tried to catch the lone call duck that had escaped from the duck arena and flown over the fence(just like at the trial).  They got really close but the duck was just teasiong them.  I think  they had a great time.

I got on the road around noon and went to the nearest truck stop and was able to dump my tanks for only $5 because I am some sort of Pilot member. I can’t remember what I signed up for but it gives me discounts at Pilot stations.  I left the water tank full because I wanted to see how it pulled with a full tank and if the gas mileage was different . It seemed the same .

I found a state park to stay at tonight. It’s going to be very quiet. Not trucks or cars going by.  No tv service and I couldn’t get the wifi at the park office to work for me. So I unhooked the truck and we went out to Starbucks so I could get caught up on email. Not much email to catch up on.

I think I may have figured out how to cure Edge’s barking and crying when I first start the car. I used my water bottle on him and that seemed to get his attention.  It wouldn’t bother me but I know it’s scaring Dare to death. He hated noise when he knows I don’t like it.

I don’t think I am very far away from my next stop which will be Dothan Al. Probably no internet there either.

AHBA DAY 2

Dually was first in the HTAD s3  run and he did ok.   He did a bit of diving in and pulling wool, but he finished the course.  We missed the drive panels and bobbled a lot on the corner panels and had trouble at the gate sort.  

Dare had a great outrun lift and fetch and turn around the post but the sheep were sticky and wouldn’t get off of me and he dove thru a number of times. When I f inally got him to get the sheep off of me and drive them he kept blowing thru so I called the run. Bad dog.  Good thing I love him to death.

I took them both out and threw a toy for them to burn off some excess energy. Dare is done for the day but Dually still had some runs.

Well I thought Dually’s run was ok but the judge didn’t and he didn’t even qualify us.  Hmmm.  BC judge who seems a bit clueless about judging.  So on we go to htad3 ducks and the first 2 runs had a duck fly out over the fence into the pond. My run didn’t lose a duck but we were getting nowhere on the crossdrive and it was very hard just to get up there. I tried to cross the line and help him and then  just gave up.  The judge would have pointed me out of a decent score by then anyway so no point in going on. Dually was getting more and more frustrated and he bit 3 or 4 times but the ducks were not impressed.

AHBA DAY 1

Dare was first in the arena and it was course 2 . We had a nice outrun lift and fetch and the brought them to the cone a little round about, but we made the cone and had a little trouble getting the sheep off of me but we made the drive  panels and then the turn to the corner  panels.  I had some trouble getting them thru the corner panels, alittle back and forth and then we did it and on to the free standing pen. I had them lined up  perfectly but we had to go step by step and ease them  in. It seemed to take forever.  On to the repen, which was a gate sort and there was so much talk about not slamming sheep iin the gate that  I allowed them all to go in so lost a bunch of points. I was very happy with the way he worked today. Dare got  4^th place 74-update not we didn’t’ Q because she took 15 pts off at the gate sort. 

Dually  had a lousy outrun  and ran right up the middle and then regathered them and brought them to the cone. Nice around the cone and  the drive to the panels was nice, but we missed them  and I elected to move on.  He had them lined up perfectly at the corner panels and then dove in.  (too much pressure).    I had trouble at the free standing pen.  Too much movement on his part and too fast. Finally we got them in and did a decent gate sort.  Dually got 1st place  84. And his HTAD3sheep title. That was also RHIT. 

And then in HTAD3d he got 2^nd place . He did a nice job and didn’t even try to bite any of them. But  we were quickly excused in HTD3d after a nice outrun.  He blew in and tried to eat the damn runners.  They ran to the fence and he didn’t like that at all.

It’s  almost tshirt weather here during the day and then it gets darn cold at night.  I have a propane tank that is leaking and of course it’s the only one with propane so I used it last night. I could smell propane inside this am. I am going to try and fix that tonight. It’s a bit unnerving.

Out to dinner tonight at Cracker Barrel and home ready for bed at 8pm.  Puppy is trying to destroy Dually’s new toys.  Already one toy is in the trash and he’s working on number 2.

I got the Tv all set up and the antenna is up and I actually have a station to watch.  “It takes a Thief “ with Good ole Robert Wagner in his much younger days.

 duck arena

 duck arena showing close proximity of the pond

 the 1/2 acre pond beyond which is the A course

Kelly has invited me to stay a least one extra day and we will work dogs.  I think I will  definitely stay thru Monday and then go to Alabama.

Day 3 on the road

I got another late start this am and I felt I had no brakes and I must be losing my independence in my old age because I stopped at a repair station and had  a guy look at it.  He adjusted the brake control and apparently that is all it needed. He also replaced a fuse and now I have running lights.  That  cost me $42. 

And then it was a short ride to the trial site except I got lost and it took me an extra hr and I was driving the damn trailer thru city streets. Not fun. 

I found the site and met the owner Kelly. He is very nice although a little hyper.  I am parked in his front yard and plugged into his house and the trailer is full of water.  I ran thru 1 propane tank already and I think the other one is leaking.  Ahh the trials and tribulations of camping. I am allowed to run my dogs in the JHD field which happens to be 10 ft away.  Nice.

We went out to dinner with the 2 judges and had Mexican.  It was a  fun dinner and delicious too.  One judge is Leila Jane Bradley from Ga and I met  her 2 yrs ago when I was down here and the other is Billy Pritchard who is a BC guy  from W VA. 

I was also allowed to work the stock, so I worked Dare and Dually for a few minutes. The stock is very nice.

Day 2

***update**** Mouse number one had a wife/husband and now I don't know where they are.  I caught the first one on a glue trap and  it was a rat sized trap so I am room to catch more so I was reluctant to throw the little b'd  out, but I threw him out the door and tried to sleep.  I heard a noise that I could not identify so I turned the lights on and there is Mrs Mouse staring at me on the stove. She had been eating my donuts in the crinkly package.  She stood there and we stared at each  other while I was trying to figure out how t o kill her and then she escaped under the burners.  I went outside and got the glue trap with the other mouse on it and put it right where the donuts were and went to sleep. I was awakened by them ,(both of them)in the middle of the night and got  up and threw the both of them out the door -glue trap and all.  And then tried to sleep again which I dont't think  I did much off gauging on how tired I am today. 

Anyway when I got up in the morning  and went out to throw the glue trap away , the whole thing was missing.  I hate to think what is running around out there with a glue trap stuck to it's nose.

Anyway I got on the road about 9 and quit close to 3. There were no  campgrounds on the map and I was too tired to keep driving. Until 1 min ago, I was the only camper in this campground which is always nice for the dogs, because I can turn them loose and let them run.  Somebody just pulled a few spots over from me.  At least tonight I have running water in the camper.  Feels good.  Hot water too.  It's not yet 5 and I really want to go to sleep.  I found that I cannot hang the tv if I don't bump out the front bed which I try not to do for overnight stops. I bought a cable to get tv, but still need another one to attach inside to the tv.  I'm sure I had these dumb cables at home too.

I tried to get somebody here to look at the running lights but he said he knew nothing  about them and gave me Curtis's number to call. I called Curtis and I am meeting him tomorrow morning a few exits down in the Walmart parking lot and he is going to look at it. Whoo whooo the adventure continues.

******UPDATE*****

The mouse has been caught.  Hopefully he was not married with children.

Leaving Massachusetts

I just had to really think how to spell Massachusetts and not sure I got it right.  Anyway, I slept in this am knowing I was doing a short trip  today.   I was still loading and closing up the trailer at 10am and then I ran the dogs a bit before we left.  Of course when I went to close the dining table bumpout it wouldn't close so I had to go get the step ladder in the barn and drag it down and used my ice scraper to get the pine needles and leaves and ice out of it. It didn't take too long but it was jut another thing. I checked one blinker before I left and it worked so I assumed the rest did.  It turns out I have no running lights so it is good I stopped early tonight. So  I left at 10:30 and stopped to get a cup of coffee for the road and some of those bad for you mini frosted donuts in a package.

I gave the puppy stuffed kong and a raw bone to keep him busy and it must have worked because I only heard peeps from him as the car started and by the last gas up he had stopped peeping. I couldn't see DAre but I imagine he was not having a fun time. He seems exhausted.  Actually everybody is just laying around right now.  Dare and the pup are in crates and Peaches and Dually are out right now.  Taking turns so I can keep the peace.

It turns out that I get 8.6 miles to the gallon towing this thing. Whoowhoo.  I wish I hadn't figurred it out.

I have internet here and might have tv but I don't have a tv cord to hook up outside. Not sure if I have one for inside either.  More to discover! And yes I have had this trailer for over a year and never had a tv in it.

I'm hoping the resident mouse was out when I left this morning. I will set the trap toight. Yesterday he ate the peanut butter and didnt' get caught.  Smarty pants. Old trap too.

7pm is probably too early to go to bed so maybe I will walk half a mile and take a shower or watch a movie